In gem therapy at the Raj in Fairfield, Iowa, light is beamed through gems to help restore balance and create wholeness in the body.

Last spring a friend told me about a new treatment called Maharishi Light Therapy with Gems (MLG). “It feels like you’re bathing in light,” she said. Exhausted from travel and late nights caretaking my aging parents, I thought a light bath sounded like the perfect way to get back on track.

Later that week I found myself at the Raj Maharishi Ayurveda Health Spa in Fairfield, Iowa, where a practitioner showed me thirteen light beamers. She explained that each beamer shines soft light through a different gem, and she’d use them to conduct an initial evaluation.

I closed my eyes as she tested my reactions. After a while, I felt so settled that I could barely speak. I surfaced briefly when she said softly, “Now we will begin the treatment.”

She arranged the instruments in holders above me, so that many gems were shining on my body. If the diagnosis had been so peaceful, what would the treatment feel like? A warm light spread throughout my body in waves. The light was not coming from the outside but from within me. When the treatment was over, I didn’t move for 40 minutes, sunk in a blissful state. I felt sparkly and bright inside, like a diamond.

Yet it was the long-lasting results that were even more striking. It was as if the light had washed away the toxins and tiredness. Nine months later I still have more energy than before. How did this work, exactly?

Ancient and Modern Combined

Rubies. Sapphires. Emeralds. The oldest and most refined members of the mineral kingdom, gems have long been used for their healing qualities. Thousands of years ago the Ayurvedic physician Charaka taught that gems can be used for prolonging one’s life span as well as for promoting health, wealth, happiness, charisma, and the fulfillment of desires. In fact, Ayurvedic texts describe mantras, gems, and herbs as the three fundamental means to support the development of higher states of consciousness and perfect health.

To give a little background, the equipment used in MLG treatments has been developed over a period of 30 years by Dr. Yoachim Roller, a German gemologist, under the direct guidance of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who founded the Transcendental Meditation technique. In 2007, Maharishi structured the basic procedures for the treatment. The following year, Dr. Roller and his wife, Iris, held their first training course at Maharishi European Research University in Holland. Trained practitioners offer MLG exclusively at the Raj in Fairfield and in TM facilities around the world.

Maharishi also guided Dr. Roller in the creation of larger, more powerful instruments, affectionately called “Big Beamers.” The thirteen Big Beamers contain twelve gems each, with a total of 145 gems to magnify the effect. The Raj is one of only two facilities in the world that offer treatments with both Big Beamers and regular beamers.

Since I didn’t have the Big Beamer treatment, I asked Dr. Keith Wegman, a practitioner of MLG at the Raj, to explain the difference.

“The Big Beamers have a unique ability to transform any rigidity or obstruction to the flow of energy in the physiology,” he said. “The transformation is more significant than with the regular beamers because the body is being submerged in profound coherence. All the frequencies in the body adjust to that.”

Dr. Wegman added, “The more powerful orderliness of the large beamers takes over any disorder, restoring balance in previously weak or compromised areas of functioning.”

Assisting the Body’s Ability to Heal

According to Dr. Wegman, MLG treatments act as a catalyst for self-healing mechanisms inherent within everyone, transforming dis-order to a more natural state of order, strength, and integrity. “The light emanating from thirteen flawless gems resonates with subtle frequencies of the body, greatly assisting the body’s ability to repair itself,” he said.

The results of MLG are different for each person. A woman from Montreal found relief from asthma, while for Eamon Edmonds, an Irish man, the treatment repaired injuries suffered from a car accident 48 years ago.

Adile Esen from Turkey said, “The nourishing and balanced feeling, coupled with calmness and clarity that I experienced increasingly during and after my treatments, has continued. In addition to becoming more aware, open, and clear, I realize that even in very difficult situations that could have made me doubt and tremble, I have remained calm like the pearl at the bottom of the ocean.”

During the past year, over 2,000 treatments given at the Raj have provided strong evidence of the long-term benefits of this approach, said Dr. Wegman. “Individuals have reported relief from chronic disorders, such as decreased anxiety and improved emotional stability, decreased joint, muscle, and bone problems, improved sleep, and expanded self-development,” he said.

A six-month research study is being conducted to quantify the long-term effects of the treatment.

Did I miss out, not having the Big Beamers? In any case, I’m curious. I’ll have to try them. Like many people who now schedule regular treatments of Maharishi Light Therapy with Gems, I’m reaching for the light.